


Beacon Home

by DianaLeto89



Series: Stargate Vignettes [1]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M, Family, Prison, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 03:44:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6222361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DianaLeto89/pseuds/DianaLeto89
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vala and Daniel are taken prisoner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beacon Home

It felt like we had been there for centuries. The cold, the despair, the hopelessness. When Daniel and I had been taken while on a mission I seriously thought it was going to be just like the other times. Short incarceration, valiant rescue, fabulous welcome home party. So far none of that had proven true. I started off trying to keep track of time. Trying to count the days and weeks that Daniel and I spent huddled together on the damp tile floor of our cell. After the first six months I gave up counting. After the first year Daniel did.

The children were brought into our cell some time into our second year, I think, I had already given up on counting, but I did at least know it had been a long time. These three little children, innocent to the troubles of the galaxy, innocent to the crimes for which they were accused. Daniel and I seemed to silently agree that the children were under our protection now.

We spent our time telling them stories (mostly me), teaching them to read and write (mostly Daniel), and trying to gather as much food as possible to keep their fragile little bodies healthy. The children flourished under our care, as much as any child can in prison. They clung to us at night as they slept the sweet surrendered sleep of childhood. Daniel and I would curl our bodies around them, forming a shield around them, as we lay awake, looking into each other’s eyes, silently sharing our fears and our hopes for the children.

After the children had been with us for a year or so the guards pulled all of the prisoners into the central courtyard. They were going to be selling some of us to a Naquadah mine. They separated the women from the men and they pulled the children, _our children,_ away. I stood across from Daniel, staring into his strong, blue eyes. I could hear them crying for us, calling for their _mama_ and _papa_. A single tear rolled down Daniel’s cheek as he listened to them wail, knowing we couldn’t move to comfort them.

The slavers ringed in and the prisoners grew silent, the guards smug, and Daniel and I grew bold. We knew these faces, we recognize these men and women. When the slavers begin to look around I know, _I know_ that they will not know to bring our children. We do not have children, not in their memories. They know only to take us. They don’t know who these other non-criminals are. They have no idea who is innocent and who is a genuine criminal. They don’t know who those children belong to.

When the negotiations begin Daniel and I make eye contact and he nods imperceptibly. We run at the same time for our children. Three pairs of hands reaching out for us. A small body in each of our arms, a tiny hand held tightly. The ‘slavers’ look to us and demand to know what is going on. It is a ruse. They are trying to keep up the act. It is a good one.

Finally, they agree to take the five of us. Good leverage over us, and the children can crawl in small places. We are shuffled onto the ring platform and suddenly we were aboard the _George Hammond_ and our children were crying. Samantha came towards us, worry on her face, and watched as we calmed our children. Our sweet, innocent, children. When they had calmed, the hugging began. The weeks back to Earth were filled with food, fun, and tears. The children thrived. After the initial shyness dissipated they grew bold, relishing the attention that was lavished upon them.

Daniel and I shared a bed in the guest quarters on board, our two girls sharing a bed on the floor and the youngest, our little boy, snuggled between us. Visits to the infirmary were the hardest. The poking and prodding making it nearly unbearable, but the children did well. They were given a clean bill of health, their blood work shown that they were, all three, unrelated. The paperwork for their Earth citizenship, and my own, was expedited. Our children were now officially ours, no government could change that. I didn’t need paperwork for that.

Earth was like a beacon, always calling out to us. When we finally beamed into the SGC, a child on my hip, a hand in my own, Daniel in the same state, it was like we had finally made it home.


End file.
